


Secrets

by notimportant588 (orphan_account)



Category: The Fosters (TV 2013)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-18 17:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11295333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/notimportant588
Summary: Jessi Holland is a calculated foster care system runaway. How will Callie Adams Foster (under the alias of Christina) react to her time with Russell and Jessi's so-called "strategy?" And what secrets does Jessi herself hide?





	1. Strategy

I sit quietly on the balcony of the dingy hotel I called home. The cool breeze flows nicely through the thin fabric of my bra-let. I am silent as I try to detect any sign of a scuffle from the hotel room behind me. The new girl, Christina, is an interesting character, to say the least. From what I had heard before being told to leave the room with Diamond and Russell's "friend", Christina is supposed to have a beautiful singing voice. 

Listening in, I haven't heard it yet. I stand and inch closer to the doorway, slowing my breaths to avoid being heard. Russell is trying to get her to drink the cough syrup. The flavor is way less than delicious, a taste I have gotten used to. He's asked twice, she must be refusing it. He does not ask a third time, he either gave up or she drank it.

He next asks her to sit, then about her singing voice. This peaks my interest further. I lean in ever so slightly closer to the cold hotel room door. It takes her a minute as if she's never been directly asked to. She sings quietly and nervously. She has a pretty voice, albeit not very powerful. I don't recognize the song, maybe she made it up. She sings it in a way that implies that she's trying to comfort herself. 

Once I hear her sing, Russell's friend comes over from the vending machine. I fly back from the door. He and I were supposed to be in Diamond and I's room. 

"What were you doing?" he asks forcefully. I bite my lip but answer quickly and robotically, like a trained performer.

"Listening," I answer. He moves closer to me, I stay still, like a statue. He stops suddenly, then brings his voice down low.

"You're doing well to still be alive, Jessi," he says. "He meant his time to be private. I'd suggest you go back to being obedient."

"I know, I've been strategic as well as obedient, Dereck," I whisper. "I know how to avoid his anger. I've been doing it for four years. I am looked at by him as one of his best, that's why I didn't die years ago when I met him, strategy."

Dereck shrugs and stands near the edge of the balcony. He knows how many people I had to beat up to stay alive, so many girls older and younger than me. I have proven my worth, now it is time for Diamond to prove hers before she dies like the last. 

"I'll honestly never know how you do it," Dereck admits. 

After a while, we heard the door being swung open. Russell stands in the doorway with a small smile on his face. Diamond surfaces from somewhere and materializes next to Dereck and me. Russell motions for us to come back inside the motel room. It is Christina I am focused on next. She looks far more scared than I did my first day here. She looks as if she has the slightest idea what goes on around here. 

I scoot back onto the bed on the right side of the room, the color of which is a distasteful color in the middle of yellow and tan. Diamond has a bad bruise on the back of her neck that I study as she sits down in front of me. Christina looks shook up a bit, but not as terrified as before. I wonder how Diamond tricked a girl like her to come here. 

Our work starts soon and a part of me is wary to let Christina come. Work is a loose term for it. I don't get paid other than in the way of having a place to stay. Russell motions to me. 

"I have set up you up as an escort, Christina will be somewhat of a shadow. Here is the address, and as usual, no funny business," he orders. I slip the piece of paper he hands me into my pockets and nod. 

"Yes, Daddy," I say. For some reason, I wanted to disobey his authority for once, but doing so would mean I get hit, or worse. I swallow my words and head towards Christina. 

She has a pleading look in her eyes, but there's nothing I can do about all of this. I slip my hand in hers and lead her out the door. The air is far more bitter now as the day draws to a close. Once outside, I turn to her and lean somewhat close to her ear.

"Christina, I won't let whoever this is hurt you, okay?" I whisper. "I normally would let the newbie fend for herself, but there's something about you that says I shouldn't do that."

She nods. I'm not sure if she trusts that or not, I wouldn't. I slip out my phone from the back pocket of my jeans and her eyes nearly light up at it. She opens her mouth to say something, but I don't let her finish. 

"We can't," I blurt. "We can't call the police, or anyone because this phone is tracked." 

She shakes her head. "No, that isn't true right? I'm not stuck here, am I?"

Her reaction sparks more questions in my mind. A girl who had no idea what she was getting herself into would not say those words, not like that. She was getting frantic, I pull her towards me. She's shaking like a leaf in the wind. Clearly fighting off her own fear and the cold. 

"Christina, who are you?" I ask. "You knew this was going to happen, but you let it."

"No, I didn't," she lies. I can tell a liar when I see one, her lip quivers, her hands sweat. She's not as good a liar as she thinks she is.

"You did," I say, sternly. "You aren't 14 like Diamond told Russell, why?"

"Why do you care?" Christina asks, almost defensively. I've got her in a position she doesn't like. I'm not trying to get her killed, just trying to unravel the mystery that is Christina for myself.

"I only need to know if I can trust you," I answer. "At this point, the answer is no."

"I can't, you'll tell Russell," she says. She straightens her back, in an attempt to look confident in her statement, I believe her distrust. 

"I won't," I reply truthfully. "I have no reason to, you see, I couldn't control the deaths of the other girls, they made mistakes, took one misstep. I have a strategy Christina, you'll tell the truth if you want to live, if you trust my strategy." 

"I don't," she spits. I nod and search the location of the man we're escorting on my phone. I have nothing more to say to her, whether or not her decision is final or not, I'll soon find out.


	2. Fear

We begin our walk through the biting winds of the night. My and her lack of a jacket makes our arms shake. I would have brought it if I owned one. I glance down at my phone once more, the bright light irritates my eyes with it's confliction of the duller lights around us. The location is about a mile or so off. I slip my phone back into my pocket and focus on the road ahead. 

Christina has shakier breath than I do. I recall being in her position just four years ago. I was just shy of twelve and was equally as shaky. I have reason to believe Christina is shaky for a different reason than I was at twelve years old. It was just as cold, if not colder the night of my first escort. Just like tonight, I had no jacket. I was shadowing a girl by the name of Daisy of all things. Her hair was bubblegum pink and she had features that implied kindness on first glance. 

She was grinning, as if this wasn't something she had to do, like me. Daisy had a little tight black dress that accentuated all of her curves. I wore a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt that had been bought for me the year before. My choice of jean shorts wasn't helping me here either. I tried to pull them down to cover my shivering legs just that much more but to no avail. 

When we arrived at the man's house, whose name I do not remember, he took hold of me. Daisy stood in the corner as he essentially sized me up. She told me a few hours prior to this very uncomfortable event to reciprocate anything he did. You want it she told me, but when I got into the situation, I did not. All I knew about what Russell did what that he had several "girlfriends." 

It didn't get any farther before the man let me go, scared and uncomfortable. I ran out of the room and sat on the outside as Daisy had sex with this random stranger at least twice her age. I bit my lip, stifling tears. I felt weak because everyone could handle it and I couldn't. 

Seeing where I am now, I could and can handle it. Or at least I tricked myself into being able to. I shuffle uncomfortably as I remember that moment. I hope that Christina, who is ten paces behind me, didn't notice it. Or if she did, she doesn't bring it up. She and I attempt to pick up the pace as much as possible. 

Soon we are the address that Russell gave me. To say the least whoever it is inside is not exactly middle class. Christina and I find ourselves in front of a dirty silver trailer. The street is covered in litter and the grass is dead surrounding the area. A gulp can be heard from Christina's throat as I walk up the creaky steps to the trailer. 

I hold my breath as I knock on the door. I'm not scared for me, no, I've been to worse places. This time I had a shadow, whose past I had no idea what held. The door swings open, nearly hitting me in the face. I jump to the side quickly. Breathing heavy, I get a look at the man we have been assigned. He is large and muscular, which already makes him unsettling, but other than that he was drunk. So much so I believe that Christina can smell the stench of alcohol from where she is standing. 

The man shifts to the side allowing me in. Christina quickly, albeit reluctantly, follows suit. The inside of the trailer is far more dilapidated than the outside. The stench of alcohol may not have been all from the man. The walls seem to be seeping it out. The shade of brown would assume the walls absorbed the smell of whiskey. The carpet is nearly the same color, maybe a shade off. 

The man reaches for Christina, presumably because she has a cleaner and more innocent look to her. I swing and block her. Christina gives me a weird look. When I said I wouldn't let anything happen to her, I meant it. I shake my hips lightly towards him. 

"You don't want her," I say. "She is awful in bed." 

Christina looks shocked but plays along with what I said. The man gives Christina, an "is this true" look. She nods and the man shrugs, going along with what I said. He grabs on my shoulder and smashes his lips to mine, the taste of alcohol rushes over my tongue. I nearly gag on it, but keep my composure. He presses into with collar with painful force and Christina nearly intervenes. I do my best to signal to her not to and she presumably gets the message, because she is soon backed up farther. She slips out of the room the second his eye are off of her. 

I smile into the disgusting kiss I am in the middle of. I smile because of Christina's mini-escape. Maybe this man will give her a break, unlike the man I first saw at twelve did. He pushes me towards the wall and I don't fight back. 

The next thing I know, it's over. I lay tiredly on his flea-invested bed. He is passed out, which usually signals the end of these sorts of things. I locate the clothes I was wearing upon arrives and quickly put them on. I walk out of the creaky door of the man's bedroom. 

"Christina," I call quietly, voice barely above a whisper. If the man wakes up, this will continue. I tip-toe through the house and still not a trace of Christina. After realizing she isn't anywhere in the trailer, I step outside. The air is still cold and crashes against my now warm skin like a wave. 

I step down the creaky steps and find Christina sitting on the curb, in front of a disheveled bush. I sink down to the concrete and sit next to her. She looks very shaken up. I slink my arm around her shivering shoulders. 

"Hey, it's okay," I assure her, but she shakes her head. She straightens up a little and looks me in the eyes. 

"Thank you," she says sincerely. I smile pat her lightly on the back. 

"No problem," I chirp. "I kept my word, didn't I?"

The look of remembrance crosses her features and she smiles with a nod. I stand and pull her up off the curb. "It's freezing, how about we go Stina?" 

She nods and we walk back to All-Star Motel in the dark. Christina seems less weary of me now than she had been only an hour or two before. I still know nothing about this mysterious girl, but a slight bit of trust from her is a great start. I just hope she lasts more than a few days. I need a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I updated, woohoo! Anyway, this fic is likely to be out every Sunday or Monday.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this story. This is admittedly my first time writing on ao3 and writing The Fosters Fanfiction. Things are subject to change in this story when Season 5 airs, but only simple things like "Dereck's" name and other minor details. This is my own version of this season, it won't be FreeForm's story line, and may be nowhere near similar to it.


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